A typical computer system includes hardware (e.g., processor(s), memory, etc.) and software (e.g., operating system, user-level applications, etc.). The hardware includes functionality to execute the instructions defined in the software. The combination of the hardware and the software allows the user to perform various tasks, such as play games, perform word processing applications, perform geological modeling of a region, and/or perform other such tasks.
Software on a computer system is composed of one or more files. Each file is divided into pages containing instructions. The instructions may be executed by a processor. Specifically, in order to execute the instructions of a page, the page is loaded into main memory. From main memory, the instructions from the page are obtained and executed.